Clearest water ever in Clearwater Beach, Florida
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Absolutely beautiful beach!

This year marks the 15th anniversary of our weddings (we celebrated twice, in case you haven’t followed our story-you can read about our first wedding here). We wanted to have an adventure that was just the two of us giving us time to reconnect. Our usual anniversary celebration includes a nicer dinner and sometimes a concert or something like Painting with a Twist type nights. Because this was a bigger year, we were hoping for something a little bigger. We had a very limited budget and only one night we could spend away. With our options being very limited, we had to hunt for some flight deals otherwise we were just going to be driving to Austin a couple of hours away. That didn’t seem unique enough for our big year.

The cheap flight search commenced! Initially I was just hoping for something prettier than Texas with waterfalls or a beach. Something pretty and relaxing giving us some much needed downtime! We stumbled upon very cheap flights to Tampa, Florida. Since that is just a 2 hour flight (about the same as driving to Austin) and a 30 minute drive to Clearwater Beach, we decided to go for it! And, without kids, we could rent a very cheap car instead of the mommyvans (I mean minivans) we were used to!

Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach

We booked our room at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach and Resort. Since we only had most of two days to spend on our getaway, we weren’t able to see or do everything that Clearwater had to offer. As soon as we arrived our first priority was to prioritize our trip and to get food! The rental car line took us much, much longer than anticipated so by the time we arrived at the beach we were both starving! We stopped at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill for some lunch. My goal for this trip-spend as much time on the beach and relaxing as possible! Oh, and to be on the beach at sunset. Every meal had to be eaten where I could gaze out at the crystal clear water and white sand beaches.

View from our hotel balcony

Once we tried some very yummy local foods, including garlic crab fries and cajun conch chowder. We got settled in our amazing hotel room and went for a walk on the beach to check it all out. Our room was simply beautiful. Very simply decorated, but felt so comfortable. It even had a kitchenette in it, which would be perfect for times when we had our kids with us.

Inside the room at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach

We walked to the end of the beach before the causeway and when we turned around this was the view of our hotel (it is the pink one). While the beaches look pretty crowded, they didn’t seem like it when we were there. I can’t imagine what it would look like during the busy seasons though. The weather was perfect for us in April. If we ever went back, which I certainly hope to, we would try for April again! It was absolutely perfect! Warm enough during the day to be in the water, but a slight chill at night for a light sweater.

We made a friend on our walk

We reserved a table on the patio at our hotel to eat at for our anniversary dinner. The food was incredible! This picture below is my dinner, a lobster and scallop pappardelle pasta with a creamy sauce. Luckily we had a kitchenette in our room since I wasn’t able to finish this and took it back for a midnight snack!

Lobster pappardelle with a creamy sauce
Sunset under the pier at Clearwater Beach

One of my two goals for this trip was to be on the beach for the sunset. Growing up in California, I was so used to the sun setting on the beach. But in Galveston (the closest beach to our home), it faces towards the East so unless you go for the sunrise, you’ll never see the sun over the beach. We didn’t know it until we went under the pier to take pictures that on this day, the sun was predicted to set exactly between these pillars under the pier. There were quite a few photographers set up waiting for the perfect sunset picture under stunning pier.

On our second/last day in paradise, we slept in as long as we wanted. We sat on our balcony and just watched for dolphins. I could probably have sat there the entire two days and been happy! We did see some dolphins from our hotel balcony! After talking to the concierge, we decided to take a dolphin boat tour. We found a groupon special for it to make it even cheaper and help us stay on our budget! It was so much fun! We saw a ton of dolphins right near the boat. We kept thinking how much fun it would be if our kids had been there with us that they would have loved it as well. There were so many times we thought this. So a family trip back to Clearwater is definitely going to happen someday.

Dolphins in Florida

For the time we had in Clearwater Beach, we feel like we were able to see and do a bunch of fun stuff. But, Clearwater Beach is full of so many other fun things! They rent stand up paddle boards, paddle boats in the bay area, and just a bunch of other gorgeous beaches to explore. We had hoped to go to Honeymoon or Caladesi Island, but time didn’t allow for it. We read that this is the place to see Horseshoe crabs! There is also an aquarium there that houses the dolphin from the movie, The Dolphin Tale.

Clearwater Beach was more than we had hoped for. Such an amazing, relaxing, quick trip! If you haven’t been to this area, it should be added to your bucket list for sure! What are some other spectacular beach areas that you enjoy? Comment below!

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